yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Dell Venue] xdajunkman:
Not a bad idea, but unless we can issue the 'fastboot boot boot.img' command, then having an insecure boot image does not help. I think that the bootloader is locked and fastboot will not allow us to do this.

I don't think that this device is particularily hack proof....we just don't have anyone here that is very skilled at hacking devices. My guess is that someone with a UART or JTAG device could take this thing apart and get it cracked in no time. All we have at our disposal are various means of trying to obtain root that have been developed for other devices by people more skilled at this kind of thing than we are.
[Dell Venue] deltatux:
Could it be because we're missing proprietary blobs for the boot image? I'm not sure... That or it could really just be a locked bootloader which would be a shame.

deltatux
[Dell Venue] giveen:
Once we get root, the needed files for boot.img will be there.

I'm going to reach out to Dell and ask about the bootloader.
[Dell Venue] bolibo:
Got the Venue 8 - very nice tablet, def. worth $150. Been waiting for root...

Can someone explain to me:

1. you build a console (PS4, Xbox etc.) , you protect the bootloader with you life or most of the games/soft gets ripped and torrented. Makes sense, since you sell consoles at min. profit and make $ off the soft sales.

2. you build a tablet, you make very well protected bootloader. There is no profit for software - so you make $ off sales of the tablet alone. Since many people like to mod the tab and cannot you loose many sales right from the beginning. Unless you hope people will blindly go for your next model (even though they got somewhat burned first time) you just shoot yourself in the foot... I still use my old Infuse 4g phone upgraded with 4.3 android and my next phone will be a Samsung just because of the mod community. And I will not by anything Sony for the same reason - DRM, wont play burned CD, DVD, cannot mod - even if it usually gets you a good quality product otherwise.

Go figure.

just my 2cents.

And big thanx for all the root pioneers out here.
[Dell Venue] irieguy:
Long time lurker on this board and seldom poster. Anyhow I have 11 of these units in boxes that have not yet been turned on. I am very interested in somehow getting this unit rooted and loaded with a custom firmware as I need / want to get multiuser support going. If someone wants to step me through how to pull the boot.img file of this unit I will do it when I get into work tomorrow.
[Dell Venue] danino2200:
I have one venue 8, never opened and im going to turn it on, disable wifi. Avoiding the update, and try to root with the srs root for android (only compatible with YTP801A113200 build, I hope have the same build num on this tablet.
[Dell Venue] cline2:
Any news? Did root success??
[Dell Venue] Empty J:
Me too. Supposedlly a fix is coming before the end of the year from Dell per a Dell employee on their boards:

I still can't post any links, but Google "No Multi-user profile on Venue 8???" to find the thread on the Dell support forums.
[Dell Venue] giveen:
Dell lawyers gave me a crap answer, basically saying they aren't going to provide any info.
[Dell Venue] jayjr1105:
Seriously how has this device not received its own page yet? Surely some Dev has to own it by now for as many times its been on a ridiculous sale. Bang for buck this has to be one of the best <10" tablets around. Sure the nexus has better specs but costs a lot more. I guess we will have to be patient. I wish I had been more patient with previous devices that eventually got good Dev support. I hope the x86 thing isn't a deal breaker. Is the bootloader officially locked? At least dell was kind enough not to junk up the tablet with proprietary dell crap. Its a nice pure android experience out of the box.
[Dell Venue] cline2:
I believe Venue 7/8 Android came out last month. I still can't believe this one hasn't been rooted yet plus Dell doesn't have firmware online to download. Also it doesn't have recovery in it. When u go to recovery it comes up android dead with ! No command. Weird!! I think this tablet is the only one that is root-proof!!!
[Dell Venue] danino2200:
No root success, i get " adb error: device not found" with srs root. I have the same build number that srs root support. Maybe is a driver thing.

I receive the same error in w8/ w7, with usb debugging enabled.
[Dell Venue] phlyphish:
I have until Jan 21 to return mine to Amazon. If no root by then, I'll have no choice but to return it. Can't live without root.
[Dell Venue] jayjr1105:
Not sure how long Newegg accepts returns but I may be in the same boat as you. It's a shame, I love the size/weight/feel/screen. I'm a little suprised how nice and crisp the display really is for being a middle of the line tablet.

The absence of root is bad but I hear people are having some touch freezing and screen margin issues as well. See here in the dell forums...

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/mobile-devices/f/4585/t/19532599.aspx?pi239031352=1
[Dell Venue] kwarizmi:
I assume that you did this, but just in case, did you install the drivers in windows first?

Drivers here: http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-android-device-usb-driver/

Cheers!
[Dell Venue] 3dupunk:
I thought about returning my venue 8, then, I asked myself....what am I missing? My nexus 7 is rooted and I barely mess with anything root related. If it were a phone I would return it but as a tablet, a budget one at that, it meets my needs rooted or not.

Sent by flying midget
[Dell Venue] chairsz:
Yea I was thinking bout returning this to because of the constant screen freeze but after going through 4 other tablets because I couldn't find this locally at those juicy black Friday prices,

Then finally saw it on sale so imma just stick with it frozen Screen and all till a fix comes though because at the end of the day to me this is the best tablet with size price features I need. If not ill open it up diagnose it myself
[Dell Venue] kwarizmi:
I wonder if we can make use of the update item in the recovery menu.

Here are the steps to get to it:

Press the Volume down + power button to boot into droidboot mode. (you would see the Dell Logo and then the Droidboot screen)."

Use Volume down to select the third option and press power button to boot into recovery mode.

In recovery mode, press the Power button + Volume up to display recovery mode menu.

Third item in list is "apply update from external storage"

Could we make a zip file with su and busybox and apply it this way?

Cheers!
[Dell Venue] ayman86:
already rma'd it with dell. bummer. currently looking into a pipo m7pro, lg g pad 8.3, and sony tablet z

(my main compliant is not so much root but battery life. video playback is weak for me and thats what i use it for mostly. and screen isnt the best)
[Dell Venue] chairsz:
sounds like a interesting idea someone should try it, isnt su and busybox binarys themselves universal ish? so making a zip with it shouldnt be impossible
[Dell Venue] jayjr1105:
I actually find the screen surprisingly good. I wasn't expecting much being that its not 1080 and sub 300 ppi but I really like it. I am however coming from the Nook Tablet which had a really underwhelming screen.

BTW the OTA update seemed to fix the touch screen freezing issues for me. I'll have to do some more testing on the margins problem but I can't seem to reproduce that issue either. Really hoping for root though.
[Dell Venue] Vincent Vegas:
I really like this tablet. It's a solid tablet for my messenger bag, day to day on the go fun for web browsing, videos, Feedly, etc. The screen is aok as far as I am concerned. The price is right. Root is huge for me (I root every Android device as soon as I can), but for me it's just mostly about ad blocking, being able to use Aldiko Sync, and a few minor tweaks (advanced shutdown menu, percentage in the status bar, a more efficient kernel, etc).

For an inexpensive, solid 8" Android, I can live without that stuff. I take the Venue 8 wherever I go. No significant complaints so far.

Still waiting on my slim cover/case to come from China. Once I have that, I'll be content for a good 9 months or more! ;)
[Dell Venue] chairsz:
what OTA update?
[Dell Venue] cline2:
Me too need to root so navigation bar can be autohide. So hopefully someone will find a way to root it. For me too to return it to store.
[Dell Venue] jayjr1105:
Within an hour of using the tablet there was a notification for an OTA update. I downloaded and installed it. If you don't see it go to settings > about tablet > system updates. I suppose it's possible some tablets ship with the most recent patch already applied. It's possible it was installed some day and you didn't even realize it. It's quick but did require a reboot.
[Dell Venue] chairsz:
ok ok you mean the initial update everyone got, yea i got that and my screen still be freezing though.

unless your talking bout a second ota update? thats a different ball game altogether
[Dell Venue] jayjr1105:
Yeah, I'm trying to gauge how many people were actually successful in solving the issues by just running the original OTA. My problem seems to be gone but it wasn't consistent enough for me to say it's 100% fixed. It seems like this problem is super wide spread. You would think Dell would have some kind of official response or fix by now.
[Dell Venue] chairsz:
at least its been officially "validated" by a dell rep on their support forum site, so hopefully a fix soon, until then oh ramdom screen freeze thou art my frenemy!
[Dell Venue] ayman86:
its not bad but compared to my nook hd+, it looks dull and fuzzy.
[Dell Venue] jayjr1105:
The Nook HD+ has a 1920x1080 full HD resolution not to mention a 256ppi vs the 189ppi on the Dell. It should look better.

Are all the new Nook tablets seeing root? I have the 2 year old Nook Tablet with root and 4.3 but that's been out a while.
[Dell Venue] ayman86:
thats my point. its hard to go to downgrade to a lesser quality screen.

but other than that, i really enjoyed my dell. this thing flies. no issues at all.

yeah, they all have root and it has a stable release of CM. but there is a little lag. not much but enough that it annoys. hence im looking to get something to replace it. (my nook lasts about 1.5-2 hours longer than the venue.)
[Dell Venue] xdajunkman:
Does not work. If you go back a few pages you will find a discussion about this and the OTA update.

---------- Post added at 03:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:41 AM ----------

I have two Nook colors, two Nook tablets, one Nook HD and one Nook HD+...all rooted and running various versions of CM. They work well, but as mentioned there is some lag on these devices. Some of this likely has to do with the port of CM and drivers, etc. Even overclocked none of the devices are perfectly smooth. The Venue 8 runs MUCH smoother than any of my Nooks, and I think that the 8 inch screen is perfect for a portable tablet. You will get a good device with an excellent screen for relatively cheap with the Nook HD devices, but it is at least my experience that they will not run as smooth as a well done stock Android device.
[Dell Venue] jayjr1105:
My nook tablet served me well but you're right, it was not nearly as smooth as this dell even with the most stable ROM's.

Have been running some benchmarks from the play store and this tablet is up there for the most part with the big guys. Very impressed with CPU and GPU performance. I think I will keep this tablet either way root or not in hopes that Dell at least stays on top of releasing new firmware in a timely fashion.
[Dell Venue] xdajunkman:
What is the build number on your fresh out-of-the-box device? Curious if the build number prior to the OTA update is, in fact, the build that is reported as compatible with SRSRoot.
[Dell Venue] jayjr1105:
Do you guys know if your device has to have root before xda will create a forum section for it? What percentage chance do you think we have of getting root within a few months? I can be patient but if it's gonna be something like 10% I may jump ship while I can still return it.
[Dell Venue] ayman86:
i ran my own video tests again just to see. 50% brightness, wifi on. looped a 720p bluray dts mkv video using xbmc (only video player i found that worked with the intel cpu).

dell venue

6h35m

pipom7pro

7h5m

nookhd+

8h25m

i went to a page with twenty or so pictures using chrome in all three.

the dell is soo silky smooth when it scrolls. its unbelievable!

nook did much better than i thought. its actually pretty smooth.

the chinese pipom7pro stuttered a lot. i didnt expect that. gonna send that back. regardless it had hardware defects anyway, so i was gonna send it back.

the display is better than i remembered. i would have kept it if the battery life was good enough for my needs.

i might do the g pad but its twice as much as the dell and battery life i heard isnt good.

sony tab z i heard should be great. but at 10inches who knows.

i guess enough of my rambling and getting off topic lol
[Dell Venue] N2PC Tech:
Benchmark with Quadrant
[Dell Venue] danino2200:
A new update has been released. And now venue 7/8 finally have android 4.3 jb
[Dell Venue] N2PC Tech:
Multiuser equipped

And......it NOW has multiuser support! :good:
[Dell Venue] N2PC Tech:
New benchmark with the 4.3 update
[Dell Venue] jayjr1105:
Wow 4.3 that was fast! I figured they'd let us hang for a month or two before pushing out an update. Hopefully we get 4.4 sooner or later too if not root anytime soon.
[Dell Venue] irieguy:
That is fast. I'm downloading now and am very glad to hear that multi user is now enabled.
[Dell Venue] jayjr1105:
It's there. I however still have the weird margin issue when waking from sleep still (landscape mode). Anyone else have the offset margin on the right side of the screen when you wake from sleep in landscape mode?
[Dell Venue] megaghostgamer:
Could anyone do a quick antutu benchmark please? Thank you!
[Dell Venue] N2PC Tech:
Antutu
[Dell Venue] giveen:
I would suggest going back and trying all methods of rooting again.

I have a friend who gave his wife an 8 and I"m trying to find time to borrow it for a few days.
[Dell Venue] N2PC Tech:
Still no recovery! :(
[Dell Venue] Avallanch:
Tried couple of things on venue 7 no luck. but the 4.3 update is great! didnt see it comming :)
[Dell Venue] giveen:
Out of curiosity has anyone tried these commands?

adb reboot recovery

adb reboot bootloader
[Dell Venue] cline2:
Oh man haven't update 4.3 yet and still can't get it rooted. Wtf!!!!!!! Did someone try to save the update.zip before update it. Maybe there is a boot.img in it. Something like that. Is it full firmware?
[Dell Venue] chairsz:
it was about a 165 MB file not sure if full firmware though
[Dell Venue] N2PC Tech:
error: device not found:confused:
[Dell Venue] giveen:
ADB driver installed with the latest ADB versions? Did you accept the RSA cert that popped up on the tablet screen?
[Dell Venue] N2PC Tech:
ADB not installed. I did do the button technique to get into recovery, we have Android System recovery 3e. when you get to the screen with the dead android. hold the power and vol down button to get to that screen!
[Dell Venue] ljbizserv:
Thanks to All

Thanks to all trying to Root this device....Purchased one today for the Wifey for Christmas....Hope to have it rooted in time.
[Dell Venue] NoUseToRush:
also got "device not found"...but never been asked to accept RSA (?) cert or anything for that matter
[Dell Venue] cline2:
Just updated 4.3. Still disappointed that can't get it rooted. Damn you, DELL!!!!

Also the latest HBO GO can't play videos on this tablet!!!!! That sucks!!!

Damn!!! XBMC plays videos green!!! 4.2.2. No plm!!! Wtf!
[Dell Venue] xdajunkman:
Update file captured. Total size on disk 140.0 MB. Not a full firmware - contains patch files like the previous update. Cannot extract anything useful from the file.

Well...there is one thing that is interesting. The first OTA update contained a line in the updater script that deletes "/system/bin/su" - this effectively breaks root. The current update file contains no such line in the updater script. Kind of makes me think that the original out-of-the-box 4.2.2 with which these devices came was rootable. The first update was very small - only 6.2 MB. One of its main purposes may have been to break root and patch the exploit with which root was possible.

We need someone who has not updated their device at all to attempt the root methods discussed in this thread. If anyone can get root on an original device, there may be a work-around to keeping root with the first update. The second update does not appear to break root. If we can get one rooted device with 4.3, then the boot image can be extracted and we can see if this helps us all get root.
[Dell Venue] irieguy:
I have a unit that has not been powered up yet. Tell me the steps and I'm willing to attempt to get to the bottom of this.
[Dell Venue] kwarizmi:
I suggest powering the unit up. Do not connect to network. Check the build number matches the one supported by SRSRoot (TBP706A113200). If it does, try and see if SRSRoot will work.

Other interesting things to try from ADB:

"adb remount"

"adb root"

"adb shell", then "su", then "mount -o rw,remount /system"

Cheers!
[Dell Venue] Tornade69:
Just tried SRSRoot with my brand new Device with no update... I'm still on 4.2.2 build YTP801A113200. SRSRoot shows root Complete with method 4B. But Superuser wasn't installed and i'm still not rooted.

. The intel driver doens't work for me. i Had checkmark in device manager on Android. Tried to force it and got no result. Finally i had to force the installation for an Android Adapter ADB Interface manually already present on my computer...

Now with ADB Devices i have

DellVenue 8000007083

adb root

adbd cannot run as root in production build

adb remount

remount failed : operation not permitted

adb shell

shell@android:/ $ su

su

must be suid to work properly

i'm not familar with adb so anything else i can try ?
[Dell Venue] kwarizmi:
Tornade69,

Can you try Cydia Impator? http://www.cydiaimpactor.com/

Also you might run Blue Box Security Scanner https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bluebox.labs.onerootscanner to see if the exploits that Cydia Impactor uses have been patched.

Cheers!
[Dell Venue] Tornade69:
Cydia Impactor not working for root and bluebox security show :

bug 8219321 patched

bug 9695860 patched
[Dell Venue] cellphone89:
I just tried the SRSROOT with no luck I'll be trying the adb as soon as the SDK is finished downloading.. I'll keep you all posted.

*update*

Dell why are you doing this to us?

Here is my SRSROOT log:

---= SRS One-Click-Root v4.7 =---

4:04:42 PM - Starting ADB Server..

4:04:47 PM - Manufacturer: Dell

4:04:47 PM - Model: Venue 7 3730

4:04:47 PM - Android Version: 4.2.2

4:04:47 PM - Build ID: TBP706A113900

4:04:47 PM - Board ID: clovertrail

4:04:47 PM - Chipset Platform: clovertrail

4:04:47 PM - Getting OffSets.. : 0x8003 0x8005 (False)

4:04:51 PM - Query Server for Best Method.. Not Found (SmartRoot not possible yet)

----= Start Rooting Process.. Please Wait =----

4:04:52 PM [+] Testing exploit: root1 (Please wait some minutes)....

4:04:52 PM [+] Executing root1 exploit Failed, Proceed next...

4:04:52 PM [+] Testing exploit: root2a (Please wait it can take some minutes)....

4:04:54 PM [+] Executing root2a exploit Failed, Proceed next...

4:04:54 PM [+] Installing exploit: root3c (Please wait...)

4:07:26 PM [+] Select 'FRODO' or 'ARAGORN' or 'LEGOLAS' on your device, then click OK

4:11:03 PM [+] Removing Exploit.. Please Wait..

4:11:11 PM [+] Analysing Results...

4:11:11 PM [+] Root Failed: Resume Exploit 4.

4:11:11 PM [+] Testing exploit: root4 (please wait..)

4:11:14 PM [+] Device Reboot #1 (Wait till it's started)

4:12:05 PM [+] Device Reboot #2 (Wait till it's started)

4:15:15 PM [+] Executing root4 exploit Failed. (Root Error: 0)

4:15:15 PM [+] Testing exploit: root4b (please wait..)

4:15:22 PM [+] Device Reboot #1 (Wait till it's started)

4:16:16 PM [+] Device Reboot #2 (Wait till it's started)

4:18:00 PM [+] Testing exploit: root5 (please wait..)

4:18:00 PM [+] Unlock your device screen, it should bring up restore mode.

4:18:41 PM [+] Press RESTORE button on device NOW! then wait...

4:19:17 PM [+] Device Reboot #1 (Wait till it's started)

4:20:30 PM [+] Executing root5 exploit Failed. (Root Error: 0)

4:20:30 PM Auto Root Failed on this device. :(

4:20:30 PM Rebooting Device and try again...
[Dell Venue] jayjr1105:
Thanks guys for all your work. I'd be happy to buy the successful root(ers) a drink by donating :)
[Dell Venue] gfraizer:
Used those commands in LinuxMint (Ubuntu) with adb drivers from XDA (thx Guys} My Venue 8 3830 booted into Native Recovery easily. adb reboot bootloader got me a full reboot, eventually back to system....
[Dell Venue] jayjr1105:
I hear from Dell forums that the bootloader isn't actually locked but the x86 thing is what's proving difficult. Is this true? So maybe not dell's doing but a learning curve for x86 Android.

Is this normal? Android OS should never be that close to the top.
[Dell Venue] gfraizer:
cydia Impactor doesn't recognize my 3830 (Tho adb devices shows it and MTP connection to pC works) "no device connected" on several attempts with diff. cables. Bluebox gets the same results as Tornado69 with the intel drivers on Win8x64

Anything new on the Intel/Arm chipset problem i.e. SU binaries differential?
[Dell Venue] hellios1:
I dont think so. Modecom FT9000 running on same Atom procesor you can root with CydiaImpactor in few seconds.
[Dell Venue] 3dupunk:
I'm hating dell at the moment, not for the venue but for them going out of their way to take root privileges away. I'm still happy with my purchase, I just don't like manufacturers making decisions for me. If I want to root my device, I should be able to..... I paid for that privilege. I was gonna buy a few more venues, but I'm going to hold off for now.

It's the same reason I won't buy Apple unless it's a Mac book, you pay for your product and they want to tell you what you can and can't do with it. Whoever figures it out, you'll get a few beers or coffees or whatever at least from me!

At this point, I want root access just to want it....as to stick it to the "MAN"...lol

Enjoy your weekends all!

Sent by flying midget
[Dell Venue] NoUseToRush:
Totally agree...Ramos i-series tablets also have the same processor, and they can be rooted
[Dell Venue] cellphone89:
So what if we copy the "su" from that rooted tablet to the dell venue since they both are x86?
[Dell Venue] kwarizmi:
The x86 su binary is readily available (http://androidsu.com/superuser/). The problem is that we have not found a way to mount the system partition as read/write. For this it seems to me that we need to get the bootloader unlocked and/or get fastboot working.
[Dell Venue] xdajunkman:
It isn't only getting the system partition mounted...if you have read through this forum you will see that I have accomplished that. The problem is that even with the partition mounted we still lack the privileges to actually write to the partition. The problem is getting elevated privileges that allow us to access the partition. That is what the exploits that are used to root devices do - take advantage of some loophole that someone has discovered and get temporary elevated privileges that allows writing to the partition.
[Dell Venue] kwarizmi:
Thanks for clarifying xdajunkman. My description was inaccurate.

Is it possible to redo the steps to mount the system partition as read/write without having a pending OTA update? Or perhaps there is a way to spoof an OTA update in order to run some experiments?

Cheers!
[Dell Venue] stang48317:
How is everyone getting the 4.3 update? I have a Venue 7 and when I check for updates it says there are no updates. I am currently running 4.2.2, I have not updated at all.
[Dell Venue] cline2:
So frustrated !! Going to buy other tablet that is fast and can be rooted. I believe this Dell Venue is the first that is root- proof!! I hate you, Dell!!